Sophos: 20 Percent Of Macs Hide A Chlamydia-Like Risk For Windows PCs

The Flashback botnet scare may have thrust Macs' supposed invulnerability to antiviruses claim under a microscope, but Sophos decided it wanted some numbers to go along with the heaping of hype. So the company studied feedback from 100,000 Apple computers with Sophos antivirus installed and surprisingly discovered that the Macs were fairly teeming with malware. Before you start laughing, consider this: the vast majority of the malware found didn't affect OS X at all. It targeted Windows PCs.

Only 2.7 percent of the infected Macs contained malware that was harmful to Apple computers, Sophos reports in both a press release and a post on its Naked Security blog. However, a whopping 20 percent of Macs -- that's one in five, if math isn't your strong point -- were riddled with "one or more instances of Windows malware." Most of the Mac-targeting bugs were either Flashback or fake antivirus scams, while the top Windows malware found on Macs turns PCs into spam factories.

Yes, Macs can often transmit that malware to PCs.

Sophos says that some of the PC malware infected the Macs as far back as 2007 and could have been easily removed at any point if the hardware owners would have installed an antivirus program rather than buying into the whole "Macs don't get viruses" thing. Sophos' Graham Cluley also says PC malware on Macs is a lot like Chlamydia:

Just like malware on your computer, Chlamydia commonly shows no obvious symptoms. But left undetected Chlamydia can cause serious problems, such as infertility… The good news is that Chlamydia is easy to treat. And, if it isn't too tacky to make a parallel, so is malware on Macs.

Cluley then went on to plug Sophos' free antivirus product for Mac users. Keep that in mind while you're contemplating these numbers. The study also drew its sample from 100,000 Macs that "recently" installed Sophos antivirus, which means the stats could be skewed somewhat, as you aren't likely to install a new antivirus program unless you're worried that either a) you're Mac is infected or b) the Flashback boogieman is going to get you.

I own three Macs and two Win machines, (one homemade). I treat all my machines the same, they all run antivirus software, (the free kind). In talking on Mac sites I gather a lot of Mac owners belive that the whole virus/trojan business is a scam put on by the antivirus companies. Nievity or just don't care, it makes a lot of Mac owners poor netizens, Typhoid Marys I call them, and they simply don't care because they say "it doesn't affect me, why should I care?" At some point it will affect them, as the virus/trojan writers become more interested in the untapped land of OSX, and they will begin to care. And I will be there to say, " Told ya so" .

I don't use real-time AV on my Mac but I do scan with a passive scanner from Kaspersky. I too am trying not to be a douche to the many Windows-users. Plus I'm the free-tech they call to remove their malware anyway. Probably a bad idea to make more annoying work for myself ;)

I used active AV on my Mac for a year. I'm done for now. It was ok but it didn't even find any Windows viruses. Just dragged the system down. Until I get wind of some serious stuff that's going to f___ my system up (not that joke that was Flashback,) I will not reconsider. (Real-time on the Win PC is essential, obviously.)

Even with the "threat" of Malware and such on Windows environments, I'd still rather have my Windows 7 systems (3 of them) than one Mac any day of the week. Mac's are not bad computers, mind you, but I just HATE OSX and the way it "works". Also, I hate being hog-tied into buying what Apple wants me to buy, hardware-wise, and I prefer building my own systems. That is another reason I won't buy a Mac. I can build a Windows 7 based system with at LEAST 3x the power, storage and graphics prowess at 3x LESS than an equivalent Mac (if there IS one). Again, don't get me wrong, I think Mac's are nice systems, just not for me.

I think most MPC-readers (and staff) would agree with you. There's something for everyone.

The "threat" of malware on Windows isn't so bad when the people using it know what they are doing. My problem with some smart-asses/haters is that they want ME to come over and fix Windows/remove malware for them on a near monthly basis. I'll bet you, like most people reading this mag/site, are smart enough to keep their systems well protected and not click on stupid stuff.

I like OSX better than Win 7 but don't hate the latter. Win 7 is actually pretty damned good. I'd love to build a Hackintosh. The Mac Pro line is WAY too expensive and (IMO) poorly supported and updated by Apple. The problem with Hackintoshes is that you're always worrying if the next Software Update will break your system ;) That's another reason why I still have Windows (and Linux) PCs.

I'm no evangelist. I never tell people they "need" a Macintosh when they ask me. There's very little instance where I feel they should be recommended over other platforms.

I agree with what you're saying as well. Both platforms have their uses and work for people of all types. I've been a Windows user since Windows 2.0, and I was smart enough to avoid the crappy versions after that, like ME and Vista. I am not so "Microsoft Blind" that I will act as though Windows is THE ONLY platform for everybody. If that were true, Apple wouldn't be here today....same goes for Linux.

I used the word "hate" when I said what I felt about OSX and that was more from the standpoint that I am not comfortable with the way it works, and not that it does not have its "coolness" or works like those who use it expect it to.

Being a long-time Windows user, there are certain expectations of the function of the OS that I have come to expect, and OSX doesn't do that for me the way Windows 7 does today. I was running with XP since 2002, and moved to Win7 in late 2009. I have never looked back to XP, and today I am a staunch opponent of that archaic and dead OS. Win7 is superior to XP in so many ways it's not even a contest.

I would also like to make a "Hackintosh" just to have the OS around and "check it out" more closely without the restrictive costs of a new Mac system. I'm a builder, not a "Box PC" buyer, so the idea of having to "accept" what is given to me in a system goes against my very nature of a PC fanatic.

There's plenty of legitimate reasons for some to dislike (or even hate) Macs and/or OSX. It definitely does restrict one to Apple's hardware (which isn't always the best value...maybe only for resale-value.) Hating the OS is cool, I just can't stand people who hate and stereotype users. I never hear it publicly. It's just faceless cowards sniping through anonymous comments and forums.

Windows used to be my primary OS, but I found I could do what I personally wanted and needed to do somewhat better on the Mac. Here's one quick example: I like to encode video. In order for this video to be compatible with my iPod or my daughter's Zune HD it must use the AAC audio codec. (As opposed to MP3 or some lossless form of compression.) CoreAudio/Quicktime is really the only way to go there. FAAC, which is open-source and available on Windows and Linux, is notoriously bad at transparently encoding AAC audio. It's shortcomings are very well documented. I don't know why, but when it comes to audio that's where I tend to geek out and get snobby.

This isn't the fault of Windows or Linux, of course. Others would find programs available for Mac OS to be ill-suited to their needs. (Apple really took a steamy shit in their own Hollywood-backyard when they dumbed down Final Cut Pro. I'll bet that sent some loyal customers Microsoft's way.)

Sure there's plenty of jaggoffs who stand in line for new Apple releases. I'll (light-heartedly) make fun of them right along with you guys. (I did it to the people camping out for the PS3 launch...in person even. I'd be a hypocrite if I didn't poke at some Apple fanboys as well.)

I know this is just the internet and not really-real, but you seem like a reasonable person and you've earned my respect FWIW.

I appreciate that and I too respect you and your opinions on here. It's refreshing to talk with people that don't have to resort to childish banter just to make a point. We all use computers of some kind on here, whether that computer is a Windows based box or a Mac or a Linux box, or whatever.....that means we all LIKE computers in some form.

I think blind faith in any platform is ridiculous, and to see such fanatical devotion to one form of technology or another shows me someone who is of a simple mindset. We have Windows devotees and Mac devotees that take their love for their respective platforms too far. Even Linux has their "fanatics" too! I am not a "Mac Fan" by any means, but I would not shun the use of a Mac simply because I prefer Windows more. Same goes with Linux. Windows does what I need and does it well. The one area, gaming, that I enjoy is definitely better on a Windows platform than a Mac platform, but that doesn't mean Mac's don't have great games too!

If I could, I'd like to have at least one of each platform, Windows, Mac, and Linux, but I really don't have the time or need for any other platform than Windows right now. Maybe sometime down the road, sure, and I DO have an Ubuntu Linux install on my Windows 7 machine running in VMWare, but I only dabble with it from time-to-time.

Gaming on Macs still blows. Even with the Steam client. I don't think anyone's going to buy a Mac thinking it would be a better gaming experience than Windows currently is.

I have a Win PC pretty capable of playing any PC game one can throw at it. I just don't play so much anymore. When I do it's usually just GTA 4 (which ironically only gets about 25-30 FPS no matter what it's running on) or I'm still screwing around in Fallout 3. (Interestingly I had to make that game run on one core. It doesn't like my i7 and freezes a lot otherwise.)

...and I have been guilty of engaging in some childish banter here in the past. I've too often let people get to me (which, I guess, is the whole point of trolling someone: to get a rise out of them and bring them down to a ridiculously low level.)

I've been using the free Sophos scanner for about 5 or 6 months now, haven't noticed any performance problems yet, but if I do I'll dump it. I also use AVG's Link Scanner, also a freebie, and it has alerted on several websites I was about to visit. I like the way it integrates into the search results in Google and shows problem pages before I try to go there.

I've been using computers since the 80's and I know that 99.99% of the crap won't effect my Mac, at this point in time. But I just think it's good practice to fight the infections and all fronts. I'd really hate it if one of my Macs gave one of my Win boxes a nasty infection!

By the way, I'm only counting 2 Win boxes, that doesn't include the 4 others I built and gave to my kids.

What makes you think your shit is more valuable than someone else's? "Macs are overpriced," right? Wouldn't you want some banking info from "stupid" people who throw money around and would be too computer-stupid to notice something was wrong right away?